It was Sunday, September 11, 1988, when the first public Mass was held in the gymnasium of St. Germain school—the beginnings of our parish family that we have today. In recognition of this fact, we invite you to spend some time in prayer to God, in thanksgiving and petition, for our parish family of St. Timothy. We’re organizing a time of prayer for this on Sunday evening, September 10th, the vigil of our anniversary.
At 7 pm, we’ll begin with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for a time of prayer and adoration which will conclude with Benediction at midnight (this time of prayer is like the time of prayer after Holy Thursday Mass). This time of prayer will start with Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours shortly after 7pm. We will have timeslots for people to sign-up and commit to spending time with Jesus for the rest of the evening, so we need all our prayer warriors to answer the call to ensure the Blessed Sacrament is not left alone, but everyone will be welcome to come at any point in the evening to pray for even a bit. We will have a sign-up sheet available this weekend in the narthex to commit to a timeslot for this time of prayer in thanksgiving and interceding for the needs of all parishioners.
We are celebrating this milestone as well with a pastoral visit from Archbishop Albert LeGatt to our parish from September 13th-17th. Just to give you a sense of what this visit will entail, he will be meeting with myself as pastor, our parish staff team, and some of our parish ministries and groups on Wednesday the 13th. Thursday the 14th, he will continue to meet with some of our other parish ministries and groups and will host an open forum time in the evening at 7 pm and everyone is invited to attend. This will be a chance for parishioners to ask questions or share thoughts on anything pertaining specifically to our parish of St. Timothy, the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, the church in Canada, or more broadly on the universal church. On Friday the 15th, the bishop will be visiting some of the elderly who are more homebound or shut-in within our community.
On Saturday and Sunday, September 16 & 17, we’ll have two more opportunities to visit with the Archbishop, plus celebrate our anniversary as a parish family! Saturday the 16th will be another opportunity for parish groups or ministries to meet with the bishop, and after the 4pm Mass presided by the bishop, he will be available for a bit of meeting and discussion with any parishioners who would like, and then he will be having a dinner meeting with both the Parish Pastoral Council and Parish Finance Council members where we will discuss the things seen and heard before and during his visit to our parish, speaking about the overall life of our parish family. Sunday the 17th we will conclude our pastoral visit with a grand celebration of the 35 years of our parish with a single, combined Mass of both the 9am and 11am Masses at 10am, again presided by the Archbishop. Following this, we will be gathering outside on our parish grounds for food and fellowship with a BBQ and potluck and some light entertainment. You can find more details and registration info through the link here: https://forms.gle/gQJCU4uUJp9K7i3P6.
May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us as we celebrate this milestone in our parish family’s life.
I am, in our Lord, yours.
Fr. Brian Trueman